Hogwarts Mail
by LuminaCarina
Summary: (Hogwarts mail service is so much more organised than most people think.) Written for FanFicWriMo!


**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter**

 **Written for FanFicWriMo!**

(Hogwarts mail service is so much more organised than most people think.)

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''Take it slowly now, everybody, don't forget that the wind gets strong around here!''

The many carrier owls steadily cruised through the tricky passage with little difficulty, reminded as they were of the unpredictable air currents.

It was a good thing Hermes was the one leading the trip this time, thought Hedwig, rather pleased with herself for convincing the wiry male to take charge. Usually it was Bay who lead, but the Grey was feeling ill at the moment, and no one wanted to consider the thought of being guided by that puffed up ponce, Renato. He was as spoilt as his owner, that one.

She cast an inconspicious glance around in case anyone needed any help; she hadn't done so the last time and a few of the younger ones ended up losing their way. Nothing more serious than ruffled feathers had happened to them, but a scare like that could have been harmful to their careers – a traumatised owl scared of flight was a useless owl.

''Hedwig!'' Hermes suddenly barked at her, ''Get your head out of the clouds, this isn't a game!''

She startled, almost dropping the letter her human's relative had sent, and then turned baleful eyes to the male. ''I can take care of myself, Hermes!'' she reprimanded him, ''I've been in this business for longer, you know.''

The male whistled dismissively. ''An accident can happen to anyone, at any time. You have no right to assume you're the exception.''

''Watch out!''

The screech comes out of nowhere, and Hedwig grimly takes in the frightened hoots and calls as the owls break formation and scatter. They can only mean one thing – Thestrals.

They're close to the Nest now, but the place their owners wait for them at is surrounded by a vast forest populated with the beasts that like to eat them.

Thestrals are something of a rite of passage for young messenger owls. They can only be seen by the ones who have seen death, which not many young owls have. It was different in the old days, back when every owl hunted for themselves and they all knew death and danger like they knew their flight feathers. But nowadays humans don't like their owls hunting, and they prefer to 'provide' for them, not knowing that, by doing so, they're dooming their owls to death.

Hedwig remembered clearly her own first experience with Thestrals. It was soon after her human took her in, while she was delivering one of his letters. She hadn't been able to see the Thestrals then. The Flock was being led by Paloma, a Great Horned female. Hedwig owed her life to that owl, and even after all the flights she made and all the flyers she had met in the time since, she still considered Paloma the best flyer to have been born in a decade. Many others agreed with her, and still mourned the female's death.

Hermes was frantically barking out orders to the owls, but to no avail. It was every bird for themselves now, and Hedwig, for all that she cared for her fellow messengers, cared more for returning to her human and delivering his letter. With one last look in Hermes' direction – he was trying to steer the newbies away from danger – she ignored the owl caught in the maws of the beast, using all her energy to fuel her wings and fly to the Nest.

She had her human to get to, and that was all to it.

For the rest of her flight, she exercised paranoia and watched the trees below her obsessively. Thestrals were stealthy animals, more intelligent than she was, and though it hurt her pride to say it, they were the better flyers, too.

Hermes appeared as a speck of Brown above her. She couldn't help but think him foolish: though the height offered greater distance from the Thestrals, it also meant harsher winds that would tire him out. If Thestrals did find them, he would be too tired to escape from them.

''Some leader I am,'' he huffed, ''seven are dead.''

Hedwig offered him a sympathetic chirp. ''There are always casualties. It wasn't your fault they're dead. If anything, you did admirably well today. Not even Bay can sense the changing winds like you can.''

''A fat lot of good that did me,'' he told her, but there was more life in his wings now.

Hedwig nodded to herself in relief – Hermes didn't deserve to blame himself for this. There was nothing he could have done.

:

Gliding into the Nest, Hedwig sought out her human among the various other humans in the hall.

Really, she thought grumpily, did the humans have to dress all their young in black? It was really hard to pick them out this way. Maybe it was a defence mechanism, she reasoned, if you can't find them, you can't eat them. Though she had yet to find a beast that ate humans…

Landing on his shoulder, she bit his ear to attract his attention.

''There you are, girl!'' he greeted her happily. ''Had a good trip?''

''Let's say I did,'' she chirped in response.

Her human smiled vacantly, not understanding a thing she had said, and offered her some bacon. His kindness was accepted gratefully; Hedwig was aware that humans weren't smart enough to know what owls said.

Her human turned away from her, distracted by his friends. Hedwig took this as her cue to leave – her duty was, after all, done here.

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 **Unedited, unbeta'd**

 **This came from a Tumblr prompt, where someone asked about the Hogwarts owls. This was spawned as a result.**


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